Patents - patent documents
Patent documents, published by national, regional or international Patent Offices, contain information about inventions for which a patent is being sought or has already been granted, or for which a utility model has been registered. Each year, more than one million patent documents are published worldwide. Studies have shown that only a small proportion of inventions are described in sources other than the patent literature. This is why patent information is such an indispensable means of acquiring knowledge about the state of the art, vital for driving forward innovation processes
Where can you search for patent documents?
- Free Patent Database of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA)
- Special feature: Search in German full text
- Free Patent Database of the European Patent Office (EPO)
- Special feature: free access to more than 100 million patent documents
- Licensed patent database of the provider Questel for members of Leibniz University
- Special feature: patent family-oriented search in bibliographic data and full texts with legal status information
- free portal of the TIB for specialist information on technology and natural sciences
- Special feature: free search in more than 100 million data sets on non-patent literature (NPL) and on 13 million patent documents of the last 7 years in a common index
How can you search for patent documents?
The formal search for patents is usually carried out with the patent number or patent applicant or inventor.
The thematic search includes the search for terms from title, abstract, full text.
In addition, classifications should be taken into account in a thematic search. The most frequently used classification is the International Patent Classification (IPC).
A brief introduction can be found on the website of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA).
Examples of patent searches in the TIB portal
- Search by patent number (publication number)
"DE102016104005"
- Search for the patent applicant Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover
patentApplicant:(UNI* HANNOVER)
- Search by patent applicant and year of application
patentApplicant:(UNI* HANNOVER) AND issued:[2014 TO 2017]
- Search for the inventor Berend Denkena
documentType:p AND person:Denkena
- Search for the term milling tool
documentType:p AND (Fräswerkzeug OR "Milling Tool")
- Searching for the IPC Classification Symbol for Milling
B23C
PIZ Hannover
The PIZ Hannover offers support in research and information on industrial property rights and the patent system.
TIBgefragt – Property rights at a glance
As part of our TIBgefragt service, we offer you individual and personal consultationson the subject of intellectual property protection and industrial property rights.
Contact
Head of PIZ Hannover
Mechanical Engineering, Patents and Standards
